National Industrial Recovery Act - Structure of The Act

Structure of The Act

The National Industrial Recovery Act had two major titles.

Title I was devoted to industrial recovery. Title I, Section 2 empowered the President to establish executive branch agencies to carry out the purposes of the Act, and provided for a sunset provision nullifying the Act in two years. The heart of the Act was Title I, Section 3, which permitted trade or industrial associations to seek presidential approval of codes of fair competition (so long as such codes did not promote monopolies or provide unfair competition against small businesses) and provided for enforcement of these codes. Title I, Section 5 exempted the codes from the federal antitrust laws.

Title I, Section 7(a) guaranteed the right of workers to form unions and banned yellow-dog contracts:

...employees shall have the right to organize and bargain collectively through representatives of their own choosing, and shall be free from the interference restraint, or coercion of employers of labor, or their agents, in the designation of such representatives or in self-organization or in other concerted activities for the purpose of collective bargaining or other mutual aid or protection; (2) that no employee and no one seeking employment shall be required as a condition of employment to join any company union or to refrain from joining, organizing, or assisting a labor organization of his own choosing... .

Title I, Section 7(b) permitted the establishment of standards regarding maximum hours of labor, minimum rates of pay, and working conditions in the industries covered by the codes, while Section 7(c) authorized the President to impose such standards on codes when voluntary agreement could not be reached.

Title I, Section 9 authorized the regulation of oil pipelines and prices for the transportation of all petroleum products by pipeline. Section 9(b) permitted the executive to take over any oil pipeline company, subsidiary, or business if the parent company was found in violation of the Act.

Title II established the Public Works Administration. Title II, Section 201 established the agency and provided for a two-year sunset provision. Section 202 outlines the types of public works which the new agency may seek to fund or build. Title II, Section 203 authorized the Public Works Administration to provide grants and/or loans to states and localities in order to more rapidly reduce unemployment as well as to use the power of eminent domain to seize land or materials to engage in public works. Title II, Section 204 explicitly provided $400 million for the construction of public highways, bridges, roads, railroad crossings, paths, and other transportation projects.

Title II, Section 208 authorized the president to expend up to $25 million to purchase farms for the purpose of relocating individuals living in overcrowded urban areas (such as cities) to these farms and allowing them to raise crops and earn a living there.

Title II, Sections 210–219 provided for revenues to fund the Act, and Section 220 appropriated money for the Act's implementation.

Title III of the Act contained miscellaneous provisions, and transferred the authority to engage in public works from the Reconstruction Finance Corporation to the Public Works Administration.